Saturday, May 31, 2014

If you give a mouse a cookie . . .

I'm sitting in the future nursery with Bubba stretched out sleeping on my lap. Most of our furniture is still stuffed away in the garage, but an arm chair and an ottoman have made their way into this room. The baby and I spent many an April afternoon in the backyard. The heat and mosquitoes have since chased us indoors, and I tend to retreat back here when I need to take this little boy away from nail guns, shop vacs, and paint fumes.

When we bought this house three months ago we planned on replacing its aluminum wiring with copper. That's been done. However, a gazillion other projects have somehow been undertaken since then and prohibit our move-in. It's super frustrating to watch my maternity leave time dwindle away and still be in my in-laws guest room surrounded by boxes. On the other hand, Ryan and his dad have made some great improvements to this house, and not having to work around furniture and home decor really helped.

Our living room came with 70's era faux wood paneling. Needing to access the wiring behind the walls was a great excuse to rip out the paneling altogether and replace it with Sheetrock.

( originally as we bought it)

( in progress: stripped the paneling )

(our good friend Anthony and Ryan's dad installing the new walls)

Since this is Florida, we decided to put ceiling fans in all rooms. You'll never regret having a fan! But one month later, guess what happens? Lowes puts their entire stock of Hunter fans on sale. Grrrr . . .

Practically the whole house interior has been re-painted, and new baseboards are being put down today. We originally planned only to refinish the living room where the paneling was replaced, but then we realized that the trim and colors would clash where the hallways and foyer intersected. So what the heck, we're giving new baseboards and paint to the hallway too.

('Ever read the children's book "If you give a mouse a cookie?" It sums up the pace of this project perfectly. )

What we don't have the $$ to do now is redo the kitchen. Which is fine with me. It's a little worn (I.e. the previous owner's little ankle-biter chewed some corners down), none of the appliances match (white, chrome, yellow, and black--we've got them all!) and dated in appearance, but it's very large, functional, and the cabinetry is real wood -- no pressboard.

(the kitchen as it came originally)

I'm so excited about the size of this room! Still, I'd like to spruce it up some. I'll be peeling down that funky wallpaper border. My electrician-father-in-law installed recessed lighting. And Ryan put up some wide faux wood blinds, which I really like. (So much so, we put up new blinds in the living room, dining room, and man room too.) They really dress up a window better than those skinny tin-type blinds.

Actually, there's new recessed lighting throughout the house now (another one of those now-is-the-opportunity-while-we're-rewiring things). Part of me misses picking out stylized light fixtures, but I think the ceiling fans and recessed lights will be better and more practical in the long run. This way I won't get tired of or limited by a particular design (remember that orange chandelier in mom & dad's dining room that seemed to come and go over the years?)

Anyway, more pictures to come. I know it'll look great when it's done. Meanwhile, my awareness of having married into the best in-laws-evah continues to solidify.